U.S. patent number 8,015,086 [Application Number 11/226,532] was granted by the patent office on 2011-09-06 for system and method for calculating employee expenses.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.. Invention is credited to James R. Bennett, Lyn Y. Chu, Mark Greer, Stephanie L. Sharples, Gregory Thomas.
United States Patent |
8,015,086 |
Greer , et al. |
September 6, 2011 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
System and method for calculating employee expenses
Abstract
A method and apparatus for calculating employee expenses is
disclosed herein. One embodiment of the method may include
transferring first data from a first computer to a second computer.
The first data causes the second computer to display text, wherein
a portion of the text is a first inquiry related to at least one
expense item of the employee. Second data is transferred from the
second computer to the first computer, wherein the second data is
representative of a response to the first inquiry and wherein the
second data is smaller than the first data. A second inquiry
related to the at least one expense item based on the response to
the first inquiry is then determined. Third data representative of
the second inquiry is transmitted from the first computer to the
second computer. A portion of the text is modified upon receipt of
the third data by the second computer, wherein the modified portion
of the text is related to the second inquiry.
Inventors: |
Greer; Mark (Atlanta, GA),
Thomas; Gregory (Cypress, TX), Bennett; James R.
(Atlanta, GA), Chu; Lyn Y. (Marietta, GA), Sharples;
Stephanie L. (Elbert, CO) |
Assignee: |
Hewlett-Packard Development
Company, L.P. (Houston, TX)
|
Family
ID: |
36146485 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/226,532 |
Filed: |
September 13, 2005 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20060080126 A1 |
Apr 13, 2006 |
|
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
|
60612475 |
Sep 22, 2004 |
|
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/35;
705/39 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
40/02 (20130101); G06Q 20/10 (20130101); G06Q
40/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06Q
40/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;705/35 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Dixon; Thomas
Assistant Examiner: Fields; Benjamin S
Parent Case Text
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application
No. 60/612,475, filed Sep. 22, 2004, for SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
CALCULATING EMPLOYEE EXPENSES of Keith R. Kirkpatrick et al., which
is hereby incorporated by reference for all that is disclosed
therein.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method comprising: transferring first data from a first
computer to a second computer, wherein the first data represents an
employee expense entry user interface and is to cause the second
computer to display the user interface at the second computer,
wherein a first portion of the user interface comprises a first
inquiry related to an expense item of an employee expense report;
receiving second data from the second computer at the first
computer, wherein the second data represents a response to the
first inquiry; determining, at the first computer, a second inquiry
related to the expense item based on the response to the first
inquiry; and transmitting third data representative of the second
inquiry from the first computer to the second computer, wherein the
third data is to cause the second computer to modify a second
portion of the same user interface at the second computer to
present the response and the second inquiry, and wherein the third
data comprises fewer bytes than the first data.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a
web page.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring fourth
data from the first computer to the second computer, wherein the
fourth data represents an algorithm the second computer is to
perform.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the algorithm is to convert a
first currency value to a second currency value.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing at least one
employee expense on a third computer; and transferring fourth data
representative of the at least one employee expense from the third
computer to the first computer.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring at least
one currency exchange rate for a day of interest from a fourth
computer to the first computer.
7. The method of, further comprising analyzing the first data
transmitted to the first computer for compliance with a rule.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the rule comprises determining
whether the expense report contains a duplicate entry.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computer generates an
expense report based at least in part on the first data received
from the second computer.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting fourth
data representative of the expense report to a fifth computer.
11. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting a
message to a fifth computer, wherein the message contains a link to
fourth data representative of the expense report.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring fourth
data comprising an identifier representative of a person providing
the response to the first inquiry from the second computer to the
first computer.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: comparing the
identifier to a database of employee identifiers; and submitting
the employee expense report for an audit when the identifier
matches an employee identifier in the database.
14. A tangible article of manufacture storing machine-readable
instructions that, when executed, cause a first computer to:
transfer first data to a second computer, the first data
representing an employee expense entry user interface and is to
cause the second computer to display the user interface at the
second computer, a first portion of the user interface comprising a
first inquiry related to an expense item of an employee expense
report; receive second data from the second computer, the second
data representing a response to the first inquiry; determine a
second inquiry related to the expense item based on the response to
the first inquiry; and transmit third data representative of the
second inquiry to the second computer, the third data is to cause
the second computer to modify a second portion of the same user
interface at the second computer to present the response and the
second inquiry, and the third data including fewer bytes than the
first data.
15. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 14,
wherein the user interface comprises a web page.
16. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 14,
wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the
first computer to transfer fourth data to the second computer,
wherein the fourth data represents an algorithm the second computer
is to perform.
17. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 14,
wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the
first computer to: store an employee expense on a third computer;
and transfer fouth data representative of the employee expense from
the third computer to the first computer.
18. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 14,
wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the
first computer to analyze the second data for compliance with a
rule.
19. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 14,
wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the
first computer to transfer fourth data comprising an identifier
representative of a person providing the response to the first
inquiry from the second computer.
20. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 19,
wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the
first computer to: compare the identifier to a database of employee
identifiers; and submit the employee expense report for an audit
when the identifier matches one of the employee identifiers.
Description
BACKGROUND
Employee expense reimbursement programs calculate expenses incurred
by an employee or on behalf of an employee during the course of
employment. These expenses are typically related to travel
expenses, such as airfare, hotel costs, rental car costs, and the
like. Due to corporate rules and tax laws involving employee
expenses, programs that calculate and track employee expenses need
to be very sophisticated. In addition, due to changes in corporate
rules and tax laws, the programs typically need to be updated or
revised. These problems are exacerbated when employees incur
expenses as a result of travel in several foreign countries.
Some employee expense reimbursement programs are run from a remote
location, such as a server, wherein the employee accesses or
executes the program from a workstation or the like. For example,
the employee may use a personal computer to run the expense
reimbursement program. The program and related data may be located
on a server or the like, which may be connected to the employee
workstation via a company network or via the Internet. Many of
these programs operate using a web-based browser program and
require reloading browser or web pages as data is input by the
employee into the program. The web pages may also have to be
reloaded as the program requests more data from the employee. This
reloading of web pages causes the programs to operate very slowly
when they are run over a network.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a flowchart describing an embodiment of a system and
method for tracking and reimbursing employee expenses.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of an computer
system that may be used in conjunction with the flowchart of FIG.
1.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart that describes an embodiment of a process for
tracking and calculating employee expenses.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Methods and systems for calculating and tracking employee expenses
and related reimbursements are described herein. The methods are
sometimes simply referred to as calculating and tracking employee
expenses. An example of a process for calculating and tracking
employee expenses is shown in the flowchart 100 of FIG. 1. The
flowchart 100 of FIG. 1 provides a simplified version of some
embodiments of the process. More detailed descriptions of various
processes are provided further below. The processes described by
the flowchart 100 are typically performed after expenses are
incurred, such as after an employee returns from a business trip.
However, in some embodiments, all or some of the processes may be
performed as expenses are incurred.
The process may be initiated by an employee entering identification
information as shown in block 101. Entering of the employee
identification may be in response to a inquiry made by the expense
report program. For example, after the employee starts the program,
the program may ask the employee for some sort of
identification.
At block 102, charges incurred by the employee are collected from
vendors. For example, the employee may have used a credit card or
the like issued by the employer or a credit card company used by
the employer. Block 102 may retrieve expenses that have been
charged to the credit card. These expenses may include hotel,
dining, and rental car charges. The program may contact the credit
card company and download the charges. At block 104, the charges or
expenses are placed into a database. The database may sort the
expenses by date incurred or by the type of expense, such as
hotels, restaurants, and rental cars. At block 106, the expenses
are loaded into an employee account. It is noted that blocks 104
and 106 are exemplary and that other methods for loading employee
expenses into an employee account may be used. In summary, the
expenses incurred by an employee are placed in a database for
further processing by the program.
In other embodiments, all expenses are periodically downloaded from
the vendors, such as credit card companies. For example, the
program may calculate the expenses incurred by a large company on a
daily basis. The program may contact credit card companies of
credit cards issued to the company, or the employee on behalf of
the company, and download the charges incurred on the credit cards
on a daily basis. The downloaded information may include the amount
of the charges, the date and location the charges were incurred,
and the employee who incurred the charges. The charges may be
organized in a database that includes the employee who incurred the
charges as set forth above.
In some situations, all the expenses are not downloadable. For
example, the employee may have paid for items and services using
cash and may have received paper receipts. Such expenses may
include dry-cleaning and entertainment expenses. As described in
greater detail below, these expenses may be entered manually by the
employee. In addition, the receipts may be scanned and an image
file representative of the receipts may be attached to the expense
report.
At block 107, the expense report is created. Creation of the
expense report is described in greater detail below. In summary,
the above-described data is stored on a first computer or server.
Data, typically representative of inquiries, necessary to create
the expense report is transmitted to a second computer and
displayed via a web page or the like. Small portions of the web
page are renewed via the second computer as the data is collected.
Because only small portions of the web page are renewed or
otherwise reloaded, the time associated with generating the expense
report is reduced. A more detailed description of the creation of
the expense report is provided further below with reference to FIG.
3.
At block 108, the expense report is submitted for approval. For
example, the employee may cause the expense report to be downloaded
from the server or first computer to the computer of a person who
approves expense reports. In another embodiment, the employee may
cause data representative of the expense report that is stored on
the first computer to be transferred to another location for review
or marked in such a way that it is identified as being needed to be
reviewed.
At block 110 electronic rules are applied to the expense report to
determine whether any errors exist. This application of rules to
the expense report may constitute the first part of the approval
process of block 108. Several rules may be established by the
employer. For example, maximum amounts that may be reimbursed for a
meal may be set by an employer. In addition, a check may be
performed to make sure that there are no duplicate transactions.
The rules may also make sure that the expenses and reimbursements
comply with applicable tax laws and other applicable laws.
At decision block 112, a determination is made as to whether any of
the rules of block 110 were violated. If a rule was violated,
processing proceeds to block 114 where the employee is informed of
the violation. Processing then returns to block 106 where the
employee may fix the expense report and resubmit it. It is noted
that in another embodiment, the employee may be offered a chance to
correct the errors rather than complete a new expense report.
If the determination from decision block 112 is negative,
processing proceeds to block 118. More specifically, if the program
found that no rules were violated, processing proceeds to block
118. At block 118, a manager or someone with authority to review
expense reports reviews the expense report. In one embodiment, the
manager is sent a message, such as an e-mail message, indicating
that an expense report is ready for review. The e-mail message may
provide a link to data representative of the expense report stored
in the first computer so that the expense report is able to be
displayed on the computer used by the manager.
Processing then proceeds to decision block 120 where a
determination is made as to whether the manager approved the
expense report. If the manager did not approve the expense report,
processing proceeds to block 122 where the employee is notified of
the decision of the manager. Processing then continues to block 106
where the employee may modify the expense report or create a new
expense report. In one embodiment, the manager may add comments to
the expense report indicating the reasons for the denial of
approval.
If the determination of decision block 120 is affirmative,
processing proceeds to block 124 where the vendors are paid and the
employee is reimbursed for expenses. Several methods may be used to
reimburse the employee, such as issuing a check or having the
reimbursement applied to the salary of the employee. In another
embodiment, the vendors may be paid as soon as their charges
arrive. Therefore, in block 124, charges from vendors that should
not have been paid from the employer may be charged to the
employee. For example, personal expenses may be charged back to the
employee or otherwise deducted from the reimbursement the employee
would have otherwise received.
Having broadly described an embodiment of the method for tracking
and reimbursing employee expenses, embodiment of both the system
and method will now be described in greater detail. The following
description focuses on embodiments of the computer systems and
programs that may be used in conjunction with the flowchart 100 of
FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2, a simple network or computer system 200 is
shown. The system 200 of FIG. 2 includes a first computer 204, a
second computer 206, and a network 208 connected therebetween. The
second computer 206 has a display device or other monitor 110
connected thereto.
The first computer 204 may be associated with a server or the like
and may be located remote from said second computer 206. The
employee for whom expenses are being calculated or tracked uses the
second computer 206, and is sometimes referred to as the user. As
described in greater detail below, the first computer 204 may store
programs that perform the employee expense reimbursement and
tracking calculations described herein. As also described in
greater detail below, the first computer 204 may store programs
that control the operation of the second computer 206 during
calculation and tracking of employee expenses. The first computer
204 may cause a web page or the like to load onto the second
computer 206 and be displayed on the monitor 210. The web page
serves as a user interface for requesting information from the
employee and providing the employee with information regarding an
expense report. As described in greater detail below, some or all
of the employee expense calculations may be performed on the second
computer 206. This may be achieved by having the first computer 204
load algorithms onto the second computer 206 wherein the second
computer performs the algorithms. For example, currency rates used
in currency conversion may be loaded from the first computer 204 to
the second computer 206 wherein the conversions are performed on
the second computer 206.
The second computer 206 may be a workstation or personal computer
that controls the display 210. The display 210 displays a web page
or other similar display during the calculation of employee
expenses. More specifically, the display 210 displays information
related to the expense reports. In summary, the operation of the
second computer 206 is dictated by the first computer 204 in that
the first computer 204 provides data for display by the second
computer 206 and the attached display 210. As also described in
greater detail below, the first computer 204 causes the second
computer 206 to display or otherwise ask questions of the employee
related to the expenses.
The network 208 may be any system or device that provides for
communications between the first computer 204 and the second
computer 206. The network 208 may include a plurality of network
devices, such as routers and switches, that are not shown or
described herein. In one embodiment, the network 208 is the
Internet.
Having described the computer system 200, the systems and methods
for tracking and calculating employee expenses and reimbursements
will now be described with reference to the first computer 204 and
the second computer 206. In summary, the first computer 204 causes
the second computer 206 to ask a user or employee a plurality of
questions related to expenses and possible reimbursements. The
questions are displayed on the monitor 210 by way of a web page or
other similar program running on the second computer 206.
The response to a first question may yield a specific second
question that is based on the response to the first question. For
example, a first question involving travel related expenses may ask
to which country the employee traveled. The response to the first
question would be the country traveled. The response (the country
to which the employee traveled) may dictate a second question such
as the amount of money spent on a certain activity, wherein the
second question is based on the currency of the traveled country.
Therefore, if the employee were asked to which country he traveled
and the employee answered that he traveled to Italy, the next
question asked may relate to the amount of money in euros spend on
a specific activity.
With reference to the above-described example, either the first
computer 204 or the second computer 206 may obtain the exchange
rate for the specific country on the day the charges were incurred.
Likewise, either the first computer 204 or the second computer 206
may perform the calculations to convert the currency from the
country to which the employee traveled to the country of origin of
the company or the employee. It is noted that either the first
computer 204 or the second computer 206 may obtain other
information stored on other computers that is required to complete
an expense report.
During transfer of the questions and responses, a minimal amount of
data is transmitted between the first computer 204 and the second
computer 206, which reduces the amount of time required for an
employee to complete the expense report. For example, rather than
transmitting a whole web page, only data related to the question or
response is transmitted. Thus, the whole web page does not need to
be transmitted between the computers, which, as described above,
decreases the time required to complete the employee expense
procedure. Likewise, the whole web page does not have to be loaded
onto the second computer 206.
Having summarily described the systems and methods for tracking and
calculating employee expenses and reimbursements, they will now be
described in greater detail.
An embodiment of the interaction between the first computer 204 and
the second computer 206 is shown in the flowchart 250 of FIG. 3.
With additional reference to FIG. 2, in block 252, the method may
commence with the second computer 206 asking the user to input
identification information. More specifically, the user may
initiate the employee expense program on the second computer 206.
The second computer 206 may then request that the first computer
204 commence running the program on the second computer 206. The
first computer 204 may then cause the second computer 206 to
display a web page or a plurality of web pages related to the
employee expense program. As set forth above, part of the process,
such as performing calculations and the like, may be performed on
either computer.
As set forth above, many of the data transfers between the first
computer 204 and the second computer 206 may be limited solely to
data required for processing a specific request. Therefore, the
second computer 206 may display a web page via a web browser that
requests the user enter identification, such as an employee number.
The second computer 206 may send just the employee number to the
first computer 204, rather than the whole web page. Therefore,
entire web pages do not need to be transmitted between the first
computer 204 and the second computer 206. Likewise, the whole web
page does not have to be reloaded onto the second computer 206 for
display on the monitor 210.
When the identity of the user or employee has been established, the
processing may proceed to decision block 254. Decision block 254
determines whether an audit of the expense report is required. For
example, the first computer 204 may compare the identity of the
employee to a database of users who require auditing of their
expense reports. These employees may include those who hold
specific types of credit cards, have been suspected of fraud, have
abused a company credit card, or have knowledge of the expense
reporting system. If the criteria are matched, the program may
proceed to block 256 where a flag or the like is set to indicate
that auditing is required. The employee may not be aware that such
a flag is set.
In addition to the auditing, when the user or employee has been
established, reimbursement and other rules that are applicable to
the employee may be applied to the reimbursement process. For
example, the country or region that the employee resides may be
obtained via the employee identification. Based on the this
information, the language used by the employee may be used. In
addition, tax rules and other reimbursement rules to which the
employee is subject may be applied during the reimbursement
process. In one embodiment, the employee may be a member of a group
that has specific rules applied to the members of that group.
Processing continues to block 258 where vendor charges are
displayed on the monitor 210. As set forth above, the first
computer 204 may obtain vendor charges from a database or credit
card company. These charges may then be displayed on the monitor
210 via a web page or other display program as set forth above. At
block 260, the employee marks the charges as being personal or
related to business. The business charges will be included in the
expense report. As described above, when information related to
charges are transmitted between the computers, only small portions
of the web page rather than the entire web page are transmitted
between the computers. At block 262, the employee may enter other
expenses, such as mileage and per diem expenses. Entry of an
expense may cause a specific inquiry. For example, if the expenses
are obtained in a foreign country, the first computer 204 may cause
the second computer 206 to perform currency exchanges based on the
currency of the country of the employee and the country
visited.
As briefly described above, not all the expenses may be downloaded
by either the first or second computer. For example, the employee
may have paid some expenses using cash. The employee may
electronically submit receipts for the cash expenses and other
expenses. For example, the employee may optically scan the receipts
and have the data representative of the receipts stored in either
computer. The employee may then electronically attach the
appropriate images of the receipts to the expense report.
At block 264, a project identification may be assigned to the
expense report. The assignment may be done by the employee who is
completing the expense report. In another embodiment, a manager or
the like reviewing the expense report may assign a project
identification. In one embodiment the expense report may be split
among different projects. For example, if an employee incurred
travel expenses for a first project and a second project, the
employee may allocate a first percentage of the expense report to
the first project and the remaining percentage to the second
expense report.
At block 266, the report is submitted electronically, which
corresponds to block 118 of the flowchart 100. As set forth above,
rules may be applied to the expense report in order to determine
whether the expenses are within preselected parameters. If an error
is found in the expense report, it may be transmitted back to the
employee for correction. In addition, if it was determined that the
expense report needs to have an audit, the expense report may be
electronically submitted to a person authorized to audit the
expense report.
With regard to the program, various computer programs or computer
readable or executable code or electronically executable
instructions have been referred to herein. These may be implemented
in any suitable manner, such as software, firmware, hard-wired
electronic circuits, or as the programming in a gate array, etc.
Software may be programmed in any programming language, such as
machine language, assembly language, or high-level languages such
as C or C++. The computer programs may be interpreted or
compiled.
Computer readable or executable code or electronically executable
instructions may be tangibly embodied on any computer-readable
storage medium or in any electronic circuitry for use by or in
connection with any instruction-executing device, such as a general
purpose processor, software emulator, application-specific circuit,
a circuit made of logic gates, etc. that can access or embody, and
execute, the code or instructions.
Methods described and claimed herein may be performed by the
execution of computer readable or executable code or electronically
executable instructions, tangibly embodied on any computer-readable
storage medium or in any electronic circuitry as described
above.
A storage medium for tangibly embodying computer readable or
executable code or electronically executable instructions includes
any means that can store, transmit, communicate, or in any way
propagate the code or instructions for use by or in connection with
the instruction-executing device. For example, the storage medium
may include (but is not limited to) any electronic, magnetic,
optical, or other storage device, or any transmission medium such
as an electrical conductor, an electromagnetic, optical, infrared
transmission, etc. The storage medium may even comprise an
electronic circuit, with the code or instructions represented by
the design of the electronic circuit. Specific examples include
magnetic or optical disks, both fixed and removable, semiconductor
memory devices, such as memory cards and read-only memories (ROMs),
including programmable and erasable ROMs, non-volatile memories
(NVMs), optical fibers, etc. Storage media for tangibly embodying
code or instructions also include printed media such as computer
printouts on paper which may be optically scanned to retrieve the
code or instructions, which may in turn be parsed, compiled,
assembled, stored and executed by an instruction-executing device.
The code or instructions may also be tangibly embodied as an
electrical signal in a transmission medium such as the Internet or
other types of networks, both wired and wireless.
While illustrative embodiments of the invention have been described
in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive
concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, and that
the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such
variations, except as limited by the prior art.
* * * * *